Health officials are reporting 13 more people with Covid-19 have died, with 15,871 new community cases reported today.
Covid-19 rapid antigen test. Photo: AFP
The Ministry of Health said there were 899 people in hospital with the virus, down from 913 yesterday. The number of people in ICU has also dropped slightly from 28 to 27.
While the numbers in hospital have dropped, the ministry said every hospitalisation was "a reminder of the importance of getting vaccinated to prevent severe illness from Covid-19. There is a much lower risk of being hospitalised if you are up to date with your vaccinations, which for Omicron includes a third or booster dose."
The 13 new deaths include a person in their 30s. The others included three people in their 60s, five in their 70s, three in their 80s, and one in their 90s.
Eight were men and five were women. Four were from the Auckland region, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Waikato, one from Hawke's Bay, one from Taranaki, one from MidCentral, and four from the Wellington region.
The total number of people who have died with Covid-19 is now 234. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is now 11.
Auckland reported 2982 new community cases today, down from 3629 yesterday, while Canterbury's numbers also dropped from 3150 to 2659.
The rest of today's cases were in the Northland (558), Waikato (1432), Bay of Plenty (1024), Lakes (420), Hawke's Bay (873), MidCentral (814), Whanganui (330), Taranaki (591), Tairāwhiti (224), Wairarapa (251), Capital and Coast (1063), Hutt Valley (567), Nelson Marlborough (519), South Canterbury (251), Southern (1245) and West Coast (59) DHBs.
There were 11 deaths and 18,423 new community cases reported yesterday.
There were also 29 cases reported at the border.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in New Zealand is now 571,954.